


Pay it now or later (The devil always gets his due)

by Soldier24



Series: Bits & Pieces [4]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Blind Soldier: 76 | Jack Morrison, M/M, Post-Fall of Overwatch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:42:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27414433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soldier24/pseuds/Soldier24
Summary: "We all pay our dues to the devil someday." The ghost promised him, "Pay it now or later. But you'll pay nonetheless."
Relationships: Reaper | Gabriel Reyes/Soldier: 76 | Jack Morrison
Series: Bits & Pieces [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1976725
Kudos: 18





	Pay it now or later (The devil always gets his due)

He loses himself under the beating sun. Drives deeper and deeper into the south. Loses himself in the pound of wheels against the pavement. His body finally whole even as his eyes continue to betray him.

"T _here's no reviving the dead, chico._ " Gabriel whispered into his ear late one night when the frustration over the black of his sight beat down on him just little too much. Head aching like Gabriel's once did. Too much. Too much. And nothing at all.

Jack's curled up atop the heavy blankets of a motel bed and shaking with the ache of it. A ghost of a body drops behind him, pressing in close. He lets out a shaky sob as a hand begins to rub at his chest, slow and steady. " _Just let it go, Jackie. Don't fight the pain, shit like that's gotta be felt._ "

"Hurts." He murmured back, drawing a shaky breath. "Everything fucking hurts." His head, his joints, the scars littering his body, his face. He's an open wound of pain and if he has to live through it. If he has to live through it he wants to be numb. He wants to be bottom of the bottle numb. 

" _We all pay our dues to the devil someday_." The ghost promised him, " _Pay it now or later. But you'll pay nonetheless._ "

"Fuck off." Jack rasped and shut his eyes, breathing in the cloying scent of marigolds. A sticky floral scent that stuck to his tongue in a weird way.

" _Gotta give the dead their due, Jack._ " A warm hand over his chest, rubbing circles as he sobbed. Years into a past that felt as distant as the future. His mother dead. Permanent in a way that nothing could ever fix. Jack had lost her twice over and well... Well the ache of that loss overtook him as Gabriel set up an altar to the dead in their shared space. " _Gotta give them their due so we can keep on living._ "

Soldier rises from the bed the next morning. Gives dead men their due as he rests the dog tags over his chest and clicks his visor into place. Dorado was a day's ride away and he had to bury his dead even as he invited a ghost to follow him, marigolds tucked into the collar of his shirt. 

" _This is how they know to come home._ " Gabe had explained as he set the flowers around the picture of Jack's mom they'd set into a digital frame. Sprinkled the petals down over the altar filled with whatever the commissary had to offer. " _How we pay our due._ "

"Come on Gabe," Soldier breathed as he disengaged the brake and started the bike. "Follow me home." As good as any home he'd ever had, ever would have. A soldier and his war. 

Jack and his ghost.

The pieces that survived the Fall.


End file.
